My mother is going a long time between meals, saying she has no appetite (despite having been put on an appetite stimulant). She sleeps until noon, thereby skipping breakfast, has a light lunch and then says she's not hungry for dinner. She is diabetic so that is a concern as well. She is so frail, I worry. You can't force food down someone so what can one do when they say they aren't hungry? I dangled dessert last time and said if you eat at least half of your meal then you can have some dessert. That seemed to work well. Trouble is, she eats mostly empty carb calories (bread, mashed potatoes, corn) and then pushes away the protein. Suggestions?

3 Answers

I should have mentioned that I am not the caregiver. My aunt just visited my parents last week for 3 days and mentioned to me that my mother was sleeping late again and not eating. When i joined them for dinner one night my mother pushed away her plate of food saying she wasn't hungry. My father doesnt' seem concerned about it at all and says he gives her ensure and thinks that should be enough. Bookluvr said ensure goes out the window with a diabetic. Why? Anyway, I do not make the day to day decisions for my mother. My father runs her care and decisions like a general and I really don't have much say in anything, never mind making appointments for her without his consent and knowlege. He feels he is managing his wife's care and I shouldn't step on his toes. I guess he feels insulted or maybe even threatened by my intervention. They are always together 24/7 so its not like I can sneak her out of the house for a consultation. The problem is they will see her heart doctor and then my father will say "well he didn't say anything about her not eating" or the urologist and then report "he said everything is fine." I don't think he understands that they are specialists only looking at their area of speciality. What they need is a general practitioner or internist who will manage her entire care with the specialists...however falls on deaf ears....just like making her use a cane or walker or PT. arrrrghhhhhhh so frustrated!

I wish I can offer advice but I have no first hand experience when it comes to diabetic and food. Have you tried calling your mom's clinic and make an appointment with the nutritionist? You might give the nurse the heads up on why you need to see her. This would give the nutritionist time to gather info to share with you - like brochures, etc...

Or you may need to try googling online for the answer, too.

It's tough when they're diabetic. Because all the usual answers - Ensure milk - goes out the window. Have you tried making smoothies for your mom? You can include some protein powder in it (Whey). Or maybe mix the protein powder into your mom's mashed potatoes.

Oh my. I share your frustration. I'm having the same problem with my LO. I'm not sure what to do. Have they examined her medication list? See if she's taking something that's making her lose her appetite? Does she have any medical condition that could be causing it, such as gallbladder, indigestion? I realize it's difficult for them to say just what is wrong.

My LO was just put on an antidepressant. I'm hoping that if her depression is helped, her appetite will pick up. If not, then it's likely a part of the disease. And I don't think there is much you can do about it. Perhaps some other here can help with that.

When my LO starting sleeping more, eating less, etc. I looked at the stages of dementia/Alzheimers and saw that it's likely my LO is progressing further. That is a possibility. I'm also looking at palliative care. I hope you can get some ideas on this board.

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